A Clean Start
by Surliat
Summary: All of us devoted fans know that Luke Castellan will go to the river of Lethe to be reincarnated. Isn't there another reason that he would do this other than to get one step closer to the Isles of Blest? This is what I think what is happening in his mind


**A.N: Okay, this is my first fanfic ever!*confetti falls and congratulations cake appears on desk* So that means I am still trying to get used to the jargon on , writing author notes, reviewing my own work, handling flames, willingly spend my own time writing stories, ect. Hopefully, I get off on the right foot. Enjoy my story while I enjoy my cake.**

The road to the river of Lethe is definitely not as cheerful as the one to Elysium. Then again, I should consider myself lucky that I would have a chance to walk this road. I was nearly sentenced to the Fields of Punishment by the current three judges: Martin Luther King Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, and Eli Whitney. Luckily, they all agreed that my sacrifice in the end made up the fact that I was a traitor.

Finally, I got to the river of Lethe. It wasn't as big as the river of Styx, but it was pretty intimidating. The deep waters seemed calm, but I could still get swept away by a powerful current. On the other side, a beautiful woman with dark hair and pale skin regarded me with a cold expression. She wore a black flowing dress that touched the ground. I figured she was probably the goddess Lethe, so I didn't expect to get a friendly welcome from her.

I started questioning myself: is this really worth it? What if I don't do well on my next life? After all, I was so close to spending the rest of eternity running through cacti or listening to polka music. I pushed all those thoughts aside. It will be worth it in the end. I'm not thinking about going to the Isles of Blest even though that would be pretty cool. I mean that this will be a second chance, a clean start, for me.

I could be born into a normal family and have parents that aren't insane and truly care about me. I wouldn't have to worry about terrible monsters like drakons or empousas attacking me. No one would think of me as a traitor. Still, I would miss sword fighting, raiding stores, and the friends I made. I immediately thought of Annabeth and Thalia. It assures me to know that Annabeth is with Percy and Thalia with the hunters. They would be in good hands. I decided to do it.

When I waded into the river of Lethe, I thought it would as painful as the Styx. It was actually the opposite experience. My muscles started to ache and then numb. My eyelids felt heavy and it felt like the waters are rocking me to sleep. I was so tired that I wanted to stop swimming, but I knew doing that would cause me to drown. An image flashed in my head. A little girl with curly blond hair and grey eyes was crying at the foot of a pine tree. I tried to remember her name and why she was crying, but I couldn't. Great, I'm forgetting things already. As I swam across the river, I tried to recall my name, birthday, parents, ect. Sometimes I would remember only to forget by the next second. Other times, my mind was at a blank.

I looked around. All around me, there was water. What was I doing in a river? A beautiful woman with dark hair and pale skin regarded me with a cold expression on one side of the river. She wore a black flowing dress that touched the ground. I didn't expect to get any help from her, but I headed towards her side of the river. I was closer to that side, anyways. When I finally got to shore, she didn't say anything and walked away. I didn't know where else to go, so I followed her. She led me to a really long flight of stairs. By long, I mean hundreds of stories long. The stairs were really old concrete ones that were chipped away from probably thousands of feet walking on them. At the top, there was a bright light. I was exhausted from my recent swim, so I wasn't enthusiastic about climbing a bunch of stairs. However, the woman seemed to expect me to do it and my gut feeling told me it wouldn't be wise to disobey her. I started going up the stairs. This better be worth it in the end, I thought.

**A.N: So was it good? Bad? So-so? Was Luke portrayed well enough? Please review, but no flames. I can't afford to get a fire ****extinguisher ****at this moment. **


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